📢Hub Chatter

c/bullet-journaling

7

miller.jason•4d ago

Coworker's throwaway comment about my daily log made me rethink everything

He said my spread looked like a to-do list with extra steps, not a journal, and after 2 weeks of testing shorter entries with just one line per task and a morning reflection box, I actually feel less buried by my own system, so has anyone else had to strip their format way down to make it stick?

10

henryreed•21d ago

I ditched my weekly layout for a single daily log and it actually worked

I always did the fancy weekly spreads with color coding and washi tape. Last month I got lazy and just started one running daily log per day with no structure. My productivity actually went up because I stopped worrying about making it look perfect. Has anyone else found that simpler formats work better for actual task tracking?

5

the_thomas•21d ago

Just realized I wasted $60 on sticker kits

Bought a whole set of pre-made bullet journal stickers off Etsy back in January. Used maybe 3 of them before realizing I prefer drawing my own trackers. Anyone else have a drawer full of unused stickers?

22

the_ruby•1mo ago

Stared at my March spread for 20 minutes before realizing it was upside down

Last Tuesday I sat down at my kitchen table in Phoenix with my brand new Leuchtturm and spent a solid 20 minutes trying to figure out why my mood tracker colors looked so weird. Turns out I had been looking at the whole page upside down the entire time. Has anyone else had a moment where their brain just refuses to cooperate with a simple layout?

11

julia92•1mo ago

Noticed something odd at my local coffee shop's bullet journal display

Stopped by that new cafe on 5th street last weekend and saw they have a whole shelf of bullet journal supplies now. Honestly, half the notebooks were those cheap wirebound ones with terrible paper that bleeds through with a medium nib pen. The girl at the counter said they sell out fast though, so people must not care about ghosting as much as this sub does. Anyone else find it weird how popular bujo has gotten even with low quality gear?

1

david_henderson6•1mo ago

The time my coworker grilled me about my habit tracker at 7am

I was setting up my October spread in the break room before my first patient, and Carol from billing walks up and stares at my habit tracker like I insulted her family. She goes 'you really track your water intake by the glass? I just drink when I'm thirsty.' Then she grabbed the pen out of my hand and drew a smiley face on my weekly log page. I stood there for a second wondering if I should laugh or be annoyed. Has anyone else had a coworker mess with your journal uninvited?

25

gavinhunt•1mo ago

Coffee shop session gone wrong killed my bujo habit for a month

I was at a local cafe in Portland last Tuesday, trying to set up my monthly spread. Some guy at the next table kept glancing over and finally said "that's a lot of work for nothing." I laughed it off but it got in my head. Spent the next four weeks not touching my journal because I felt stupid about it. Anyone else have a random comment mess with their groove like that?

17

park.adam•1mo ago

A friend told me my migration method was a waste and she was right

I used to migrate entire collections over each month - like all my tasks from October into November. My friend Sarah saw my journal and said 'you're just copying stuff you'll never look at again.' She was blunt about it. So now I only migrate things I actually need to do within the next week or two. Has anyone else had someone call out a habit like that and change it?

8

maxb46•1mo ago

That ink bleed problem took me 3 weeks to figure out.

I kept blaming my cheap paper but it was actually my fountain pen nib pushing too hard on the page, has anyone else wasted time chasing the wrong fix?

16

sarahhart•1mo ago

That week my bujo fell apart on a Tuesday and I lost 3 months of tracking

I had a really rough week back in March where my bullet journal just stopped working for me. I was on page 145 of a Leuchtturm and the spine cracked so bad that pages started falling out. Lost my habit tracker for February and a whole month of meal planning notes. Tried to salvage it with washi tape but it kept snagging on my pen. I spent the whole week feeling like I was failing at organizing my life. Has anyone else had a journal literally fall apart on them mid-year?

1

olivia_webb•1mo ago

PSA: Found out my habit tracker was lying to me for 4 months straight

I was flipping through my bullet journal from last spring and noticed something weird. Every single day in April through July I checked off 'water 8 glasses' as done. Then I actually counted what I was drinking. Turns out my mason jar is only 12 ounces, not 16. So I was only drinking about 6 glasses a day and marking it as 8. Felt like a total idiot when I did the math at my kitchen table Tuesday night. Now I actually measure my water bottle capacity and write it on the dang jar with a sharpie. Has anyone else discovered some measurement or habit you tracked was totally off from what you thought? Whats the worst one you caught?

16

miller.jason•1mo ago

Can we talk about how I was using my monthly spread all wrong...

I spent like 8 months cramming every single task into my monthly layout until I saw a post where someone only used it for events and deadlines... who else figured out a basic thing way later than they should have?

14

jason112•1mo ago

Lost my whole weekly spread when my pen leaked during a meeting at the library

I sat down at the downtown library to plan out my week, and halfway through my Wednesday column my cheap gel pen just exploded right on the page, has anyone else had a pen disaster ruin their whole bujo layout?

25

charlesowens•1mo ago

That tip about using a highlighter for future tasks actually works

A guy on here told me to try highlighting future tasks in a different color so they stand out from weekly stuff. I thought it would just make a mess, but I tried it last month with a yellow highlighter. Turns out I was missing about half my future tasks before because they blended in with the weekly log. Now I flip ahead and see them immediately, and I haven't missed a single deadline since. Has anyone else found a simple trick like this that fixed a big problem?

2

noahbaker•1mo ago

Just wasted $60 on those "minimalist" stencils from Instagram

Bought a pack of 5 stencil sets for my bullet journal layout headers. Looked cool in the ads but they smudged ink on 3 of my spreads and the alignment was off by 2mm every time. Anyone else toss money at bad journal supplies?

21

michael693•1mo ago

Spent $35 on a midori notebook and it lasted me only 3 months

I figured the thicker paper would hold up to my heavy ink use (mostly fountain pens) but the binding started falling apart around week 10. The cotton threads just gave out while I was flipping through my May spread. Has anyone else had luck with a specific brand that actually lasts a full year?

6

miller.jason•1mo ago

Can we talk about how messy my monthly spread got

Friend looked at my bullet journal last week and said it looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. She pointed out I was cramming 30 task items into a tiny box with no room for notes. I switched to a rolling weekly format and now I actually use the thing. Anyone else get called out for overcomplicating their layouts?

18

grace419•1mo ago

Did a 3-month migration test and my spreads got 40% worse

I saw a post on the bujo sub last week about someone tracking their habit streaks for 90 days. I figured hey, I'll give it a shot. So I migrated all my monthly logs into a fresh notebook and started fresh. By week 6, my layout was a mess. I was forgetting to fill in half the boxes. Found out yesterday that my completion rate dropped from like 70% to 30%. I guess switching notebooks mid-year threw off my groove. Has anyone else seen a dip after migrating to a new journal?

24

fox.jesse•1mo ago

I finally tried using a color key in my bullet journal last month

Went to a stationary shop in Portland and saw a display of journals with these neat color coded monthly logs. I gave it a shot with just 4 colors for work, health, social, and finance and it actually made scanning my week way faster. Anyone else find a system that clicks after years of plain black ink?

21

jasonp71•1mo ago

TIL my habit tracker wasn't tracking anything useful for 8 months

I started bullet journaling back in January to keep up with exercise and reading goals. Every day I'd fill in a little box for 'worked out' or 'read 20 pages' without really thinking about it. Last week I flipped back and realized I was just coloring boxes without actually changing my habits. Idk why it took me that long to notice I was just making the spread look nice instead of using it honestly. So I redid my whole tracker this week with just 3 simple prompts like 'what did I actually do today?' instead of yes/no checkboxes. Anyone else ever look back at months of trackers and realize they were basically just doodling?

15

olivia_webb•1mo ago

My simple $1 binder clip trick for saving pen marks

Last week I realized my pens kept smudging across my journal pages because the clip was too tight. I slipped a small binder clip over the edge to hold it shut and now my ink stays clean. Has anyone else found a cheap fix like that?

4

the_ruby•1mo ago

Just found out how many people actually stick with bullet journaling

I read a study from a stationery brand that said only 30% of people keep using their bullet journal past 3 months. That surprised me because I've been at it for 2 years now and feel like everyone I know is still going strong. Has anyone else found a trick that helped them stick with it longer?

19

michael693•1mo ago

My favorite Leuchtturm1917 finally fell apart after 4 years

The spine cracked on page 186 last Tuesday and I had to tape it back together with packing tape, anyone else hold onto old beat up journals way longer than they should?

16

the_felix•1mo ago

Found out my hand cramps were from gripping the pen too tight on rapid logging

I was watching a Ryder Carroll interview last week where he mentioned relaxing your grip and it fixed my hand pain after 4 years of bullet journaling, has anyone else had that issue?

26

lee.diana•1mo ago

My tracker for 'water intake' took 3 months to actually get right

I kept trying to make this super detailed water tracker with cute little bottle icons and it was a total mess. Every week I'd redesign it because I couldn't find a layout that I would actually fill in at the end of the day. Finally landed on just a simple checkmark box next to each hour (not the bottles) and it's been working for two straight weeks now. Anyone else waste a crazy amount of time overcomplicating a super basic tracker?